This Crypto Miner Has Generated A Better 1-Year Return Than Bitcoin, Ethereum And XRP

The financial markets have turned volatile of late, as risk aversion is exerting downward pressure on asset classes such as equities. Stocks, which navigated through the COVID-19 pandemic fairly well, have come under pressure amid rate hikes fears.

Against this backdrop, the quest will be to spot one good investment that could prove to be a safe bet.

Cryptos Rally Loses Steam: The crypto universe was on a rally mode from late-2020 until mid-April 2021, as the world slowly and steadily emerged out of the COVID-19 pandemic. Most digital currencies clocked in spectacular gains during this time.

Subsequently, cryptocurrencies retreated and bottomed out in mid-July before taking a leg up. Even amid the volatility, cryptos are trading with noteworthy gains for the one-year period.

Over the past year, Bitcoin BTC/USD gained about 278%. Incidentally, the most valued crypto hit a peak of $64,863.10 in mid-April before pulling back and is currently trading north of the $40,000 level.

Ethereum ETH/USD, the most valued alt-coin, is up about 680% over the past year. The crypto peaked at $4,362.35 on May 12, but has nearly halved since then. It is currently trading around the $2,800 level.

XRP XRP/USD, part of Ripple Labs, is up about 167% in the past one year and is currently trading around 91 cents.

Related Link: Is MARA a Good Buy

A Crypto Play That Outperformed The Cryptos: Marathon Digital Holdings Inc MARA, which mines cryptocurrencies with a focus on the blockchain ecosystem and the generation of digital assets, is standing head and shoulders over most cryptocurrencies in terms of one-year returns.

From a mere $2.02 in late-September 2020, Marathon Digital marked its entry into double-digit territory on Dec. 21. The miner rallied steadily until early April 2021, with the stock hitting a multi-year high of $57.75 on April 6.

The pullback that ensued saw the stock retreating all the way to $18.32 on May 13, a peak-trough decline of about 68%.

Marathon has staged a steady recovery since then, and notwithstanding the hiccup seen in the middle of the year, the stock is still up 1,521% over the past year.

In a note released in mid-September, B. Riley analyst Lucas Pipes maintained a Buy rating on Marathon shares and upped the price target from $54 to $87, premised on slower-than-expected increase in the total network hash rate following the crackdown on digital asset mining in China.

At last check Wednesday at market close, Marathon was down 6.53% at $30.61.

Related Link: How Much Do Bitcoin Mining Companies Make — And What Does China's Ban Mean For The Market?

Photo: Pete Linforth from Pixabay